Nurser combination



June 1959 P. A. RAICHE NURSER' COMBINATION Filed Aug. 9, 1952 INVENTOR.

' ATTQRNQYv United States Patent NURSER COMBINATION Paul A. Raiche, North Providence, RI, assignor to Davol Rubber-Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Application August 9, 1952, Serial No. 303,512

1 Claim. (Cl. 215-11) The present invention relates to a nurser combination for feeding infants, and has particular reference to a novel air vent control therefor.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a nurser combination with a novel nipple and vent valve arrangement.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel nurser combination which can be adjusted to provide a steady flow.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel air vent control disk which permits flow of liquid into the nipple and restricts return flow of liquid from the nipple.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claim appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevation showing a nurser combination embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section detail showing the parts in open air vent relation;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, the parts being in closed air vent relation;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the nipple of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the air vent control disk;

Fig. 8 is a view of a modified nipple construction, the lower portion being in section; and

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of Fig. 8.

It has been found desirable to provide a nurser combination of a bottle, a nipple having an air passage, a flexible flow control disk which cooperates with the nipple to periodically open the air passage to the interior of the nipple and to the bottle, and a retainer cap which locks the nipple and the air vent disk to the bottle rim, the parts being arranged to permit control of the size of the nipple air passage by turning the cap, whereby a desired flow from the bottle through the nipple is adjusted by turning the cap, this flow being maintained by cooperation of the nipple and the air vent control disk. It has further been found advantageous to design the air vent control disk to permit free flow of liquid from the bottle to the nipple, but to restrict return flow of liquid from the nipple to the bottle, whereby the nipple feed tip remains constantly full of liquid during feeding.

Referring to the drawings, the nurser combination 10 includes a nursing bottle 11 with a screw neck top 12, a nipple 13, an air vent disk 14, and a cap 15 having a central opening 16 adapted to loosely extend over the nipple and a depending internal-1y threaded flange 17 adapted to engage the screw top neck 12.

The nipple 13 is of hollow type, and preferably of rub- Patented June 30, 1959 her or similar resilient material; it has a body portion 18 with a generally cylindrical wall which constricts to a tubular neck 19 terminating in a slightly enlarged generally spherical feed tip 20 having one or more feeding openings 21. An annular base flange 22 extendsoutwardly from the lower edge of the body portion, and is provided with a lower surface vent groove 23 which is preferably radial and extends across the flange; the inner wall of the body portion extends inwlardly and downwardly slightly below the base flange, and includes an annular recess 24 which is V-shaped in cross-section, note Figs. 3 and 4, to provide a depending flexible annular lip 25 of generally triangular cross-section.

The air vent control disk 14 is of rubber or similar flexible material, with parallel upper and lower surfaces and a central opening 26, the opening 26 being smaller than the diameter of the annular lip 25, as illustrated. The cap IS preferably has an annular head or projection 27 on the lower surface 28 of its top portion 29.

The parts of the nurser combination are assembled as illustrated in Fig. 2, with the disk 14 on the rim 30 of the bottle neck, the nipple 13 superimposed on the disk 14, and the cap threaded on the bottle neck to lock the nipple flange and the disk to the bottle rim. As shown in Fig. 4, the disk normally seats against and engages the depending annular lip 25, and flow of air into the nipple and into the bottle interior through the vent groove 23 is normally blocked. Suction on the feed tip, however, reduces the interior pressure, whereupon the disk is pulled down as shown in Fig. 3, to admit air through the groove 23, which is in free communication with the atmosphere through the usual looseness between the threads of the cap and the neck. The disk valve thus functions as a flutter valve responsive to the infants suction.

Regulation of the air inflow is obtained by threading the cap down; this causes the projection 27 to press the base flange down, and distorts or flattens the groove 23, thus restricting the air inflow. Loosening the cap slightly permits the base flange to lift and increase the flow area of the groove 23.

The area of the disk opening 26 is ample to permit free inflow of fluid fro-m the bottle into the nipple, but serves as a restricted passage for return flow of fluid, whereby the nipple feed tip remains filled during the feeding period, thus preventing intake of air by the infant.

If desired, the nipple may be modified as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, by providing the base flange 31 of the nipple with an air passage 32 in place of the groove 23. The operation of the nipple and the control disk is the same, as the passage 32 functions similarly to the groove 23 and is likewise slightly distorted by threading the cap downwardly.

Although I have described specific constructional embodiments of my invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of the parts may be made to meet the requirements of different nurser combination, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invent-ion as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a nurser combination, a nursing bottle having a bottle neck terminating in a rim, a nipple having a hollow body portion with a generally cylindrical wall and a base flange extending outwardly from the lower edge of a body portion, said flange being seated on the bottle n'm, a flexible air vent control disk having a central opening and positioned between the flange and the bottle rim, a retainer cap detachably secured to the bottle neck and pressing the peripheral portions of the flange and the disk to the bottle rim, said nipple flange having an air vent passage for conveying air to the bottle interior,

said nipple' -body portion wal L having an annular lip engaging the upper surface-of.the disk intermediate the disk opening and the peripheral edge, whereby air is received past the annular lip and the disk when the disk mdves-s in. response to infant feeding: suctiomihe lower 5 sari.' a,t:e ofi I the? nipple: body portion: having an annular gnome: of vz-shapei whereby the: annular lip-ris formecb byi theiinneriwal'l ofthe grooveiend thefinnersurfacemf: ahe body; portion;

References (liter! imth'e-file of-this patent UNITED- ST ATES PATENTS Brown May"17 1932' Stack 111137 25, 19

Herstein Dec. 24,1935 Kurkjian Sept. 14, 1937 Ganson Oct. 23, 1945 Canh am et a1. Apr. 19, 1949 Head May 20, 1952 Clemens Dec. 30, 1952 Boston Jan. 6, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany." A'pr. 5,519.10 

